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Another famous painting in Chauvet Cave is “The Venus and The Sorcerer“. It consists of a bison and an exaggerated depiction of a pubic triangle and a vulva, painted on a conical pendant hanging from the cave ceiling. Such exaggerated depictions of female genitals are common in prehistoric art, as evidenced by the large number of Venus Figurines uncovered all over the world.

The Venus and The Sorcerer. Photo by Yanik Le Guillou

While working on the last post I remembered some other images that impressed me in Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg”, mainly the recurring images where the narrator compares the confluence of the two rivers ( The Forks ) around which Winnipeg was built with his mother’s lap.

"the Forks"

"the Lap"

"the Fur"

The images appear in this exact order, and repeated a few times:

The woolly, furry, frosty lap.
The Forks!
The animals, hunters, boatways,
trains and Mother.
These are the reasons we’re here.
These are these reasons we’ve stayed.
These are the reasons I’m leaving.

These are the very things that are going to
help me get out of here.
The forks, the lap, the fur.
The forks, the lap, the fur.

Also worth noting that The forks were at times a meeting place for hunters, trading in bison fur.

My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)

My mother. A force as strong
as all the trains in Manitoba.
As perennial as the winter.
As ancient as the bison.
As supernatural as the Forks themselves.
Her lap, a magnetic pole,
a direction from which I can’t turn for long.

I had the pleasure of watching Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” last week, at the Transylvania International Film Festival. It’s really nice having a pretty large film festival in your hometown.

For his documentary, Herzog got a special permission from the French authorities to film in Chauvet Cave. The cave contains the oldest paintings known to man ( aprox. 30.000 years old) and one of the most famous of them is the “Panel of the Horses”. I don’t have access to the shots from the actual film, but I do have this picture of it (via wikipedia).

When I saw it, it instantly reminded me of another great film I once saw at the film festival a few years before, “My Winnipeg”.

My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)

And yes, you should watch My Winnipeg. My jaw was locked in the ‘drop’ position the whole film. And don’t let the above image scare you, the film will actually make you smile.

My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007). Lovers out on a winter stroll at the frozen horse-heads.